A/N - Thanks everyone for reviewing, if I continue to get good feedback I'll carry on with this. Also if anyone is up for being a sounding board or beta for some ideas and things, please PM me, I would really appreciate it. Thanks :)

"Where?" Daryl asked, his voice low and serious as he experienced a sudden thud hit his insides, the news they had found another victim was not unexpected but deeply disturbing all the same.

From where she was sat inches away from him still, Beth bit down hard on her lower lip feeling her whole body tremble as her blue eyes wide and alarmed were fixed on Daryl's face. She studied his concerned facial expression carefully, his hair was falling down and into his eyes as he concentrated on what Tara was saying on the other end of the phone. They'd found another body!

"Okay," he concluded with a grim sigh as he ended the call. "I gotta go, I'm sorry," he said gruffly, as he turned his attention back to Beth and glanced at her worried face.

Beth twisted the hem on her dress as she opened her mouth to ask in a slightly shaky voice, "They found another one?"

"Uh-huh," he responded jerking his head.

"Oh no," Beth gasped, and her hand flew up to her mouth to hear him confirm it. "Whereabouts?"

"Past the river out back in the woods," Daryl explained sombrely.

"Thats on our land still," Beth exclaimed. It wasn't far from where they had found Lizzie. It was also where she rode her horse on a regular basis.

"Yeah, it would be," he agreed. "I need to get over there, but I'll see you home first," he added and he paused and looked away, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. The initial shock from the call was fading and he was quickly remembering exactly what had happened just before his phone had interrupted them. He'd dropped his guard and allowed her to get close. He'd hadn't done that for a long time and certainly never in his new deputy role, or with someone as lovely as Beth.

"Let me come with you," Beth quickly said breaking the awkward silence growing.

"Nah," he said, flicking his hair out of his eyes. "You need to get home. It's late."

"I don't want to go home yet," Beth protested. "I won't be able to rest….It's our land, so someone from my family should go over there too and…Oh my god…." her face suddenly became pale, "Amy!" They had been so caught up in the moment since they had stopped that Daryl hadn't had a chance to put a call in to Rick and check she was okay.

"She'll be fine," Daryl mumbled awkwardly, unsure quite what he was supposed to say. He wasn't used to being so involved with young women and their reckless ways, he knew Amy's type and one way or another they usually ended up getting themselves into some sort of trouble. He just prayed that it wasn't the worst sort now and Andrea's younger sister and Beth's friend was safely back home.

"I want to go with you, Daryl…please," Beth pleaded. "I can keep trying her to check she's okay." Beth knew Rick and all his department would be too busy to check on Amy now, so she would need to get hold of her herself to confirm she was safely home and not in any trouble.

Daryl's features softened a little as he took in her distraught face and without saying another word he turned away to quickly start up the engine, he knew he would probably live to regret letting her stay with him, but he was quickly starting to realise that he just couldn't say no to the pretty blonde sat next to him right now.

"I'll try Amy's phone," Beth said as they sped away and over to the edge of the track leading into the woods.

Daryl just grunted in response as Beth put her phone to her ear to call her friend. It went straight through to voice mail and Beth's heart sank as she heard the bubbly sound of Amy's voice… "Hi, you've reached Amy!"

"Nothing?" Daryl asked, taking in Beth's tense body language as he brought the engine to a halt next to Rick's patrol car.

"She's not picking up," Beth sighed. She was starting to feel very uneasy. Something wasn't right.

Daryl stared at her for a second, before moving his head in the direction of the lights, "Come on," he said abruptly.

….

"That was quick," Tara said as Daryl approached the crime scene followed by Beth.

"Yeah," Daryl mumbled, not wanting to elaborate on exactly what he had been doing up in this neck of the woods to be have been able to have gotten here so quickly.

Tara's eyes slid over to Beth by his side, but she didn't comment on the blonde being there too. Whatever she was thinking she kept it to herself. "Rick's over there," Tara explained pointing towards the closed off section. Denise, the forensics specialist interrupted them to show Tara something and she turned away from Beth and Daryl.

"Wait there," Daryl said to Beth as he pulled up the tape to enter the closed off area and find Rick.

Beth nodded as she watched him. He had switched back into being assertive and in control, even though he wasn't on duty, she could see why Rick had given him a job, he was made to be strong and protect people, he couldn't be more different to his ass-hole brother.

...

Rick was chatting to one of the team when he looked up to see Daryl and his face filled with relief. "Thanks for coming," he said in a low and serious voice.

"No problem," Daryl responded, noticing the signs of distress on Rick's face he feared the worst.

"We got an anonymous tip off to come out here," Rick said. "Victims over there," he gestured with his arm to his right, holding up his powerful torch for Daryl to see.

Daryl squinted and glanced over to see to his dismay another gruesome murder victim. This one was very pretty and quite a bit older than Lizzie had been, she had pale ivory skin and delicate features like a porcelain doll and her long black hair matted with blood hung around her face. Her clothes were torn, and her hands were twisted into what looked almost like clawing motions. She must have put up some sort of a fight.

"Same marks as before," Rick explained flashing his light over the dead girl's body to highlight the parts that looked as though they'd had great chunks bitten out of them.

Daryl felt a knot form in his stomach, this was some crazy shit. He had never seen anything like it before and it was very disturbing. "You got an ID?" he asked. He had never seen the young woman before, so he doubted she was a local.

"No formal ID yet, but from the ID card we found on her we think she was Clara O'Malley, an Irish national. What she was doing over here, we can't say yet,' Rick stated. "Could be on holiday, or on a temporary work visa."

Daryl swept his eyes once more over the young woman's motionless body, her eyes red rimmed and alarmingly bloodshot were staring straight out in front of her, she looked like something out of a horror movie.

"You're with Beth?" Rick suddenly asked from where he was still standing next to Daryl and had looked over to where the young blonde was stood talking on her cell phone at the edge of the crime scene.

"Umm..yeah," Daryl replied awkwardly allowing his hair to hang over his right eye as he avoided looking at his boss. "Was giving her a ride," he explained.

Rick's eyes widened a little, but unlike Shane would have done he didn't smirk or make a big deal out of it, for which Daryl was grateful. Instead Rick just shrugged and said, "Good, she shouldn't be on her own right now."

"Yeah," Daryl grunted in response, he knew his boss and friend would think it none of his business what his reasons for being with Beth were.

"Listen, they're going to finish up here and take the body back to the morgue for a full post mortem. You reckon you could hang around there for a bit, while we go back to start making some calls, Shane is on his way in too," Rick said.

"Sure," Daryl nodded. He knew in this small town there was no such thing as off duty, if he was needed, he had to be available to assist Rick.

Rick moved away and Daryl moved back over to where Beth had moved a a little way back now into the shadows, to wait for him.

"Can I do anything?" she asked as he got nearer, her blue irises shining in the darkness.

Daryl swallowed as he took in her beautiful face, she wasn't his girl, but there was something there drawing her to him. He felt such a strong urge to protect her and he took a comfort from her presence too. It made him feel good.

"Nah, they're finishing up here and I'm needed back at the morgue," he replied in a low voice.

Before she could respond, Daryl's phone suddenly went off in his pocket, he pulled it out to see it was Carol, "I gotta take this," he mumbled and moved away from Beth for a second.

Beth's brow wrinkled in a little confusion, she had seen Carol's name as the screen had lit up in Daryl's hand and Beth was curious as to what Carol could want at this hour. From Daryl's expression it was clear he cared about Carol and something was up.

"Everything okay?" Beth asked as Daryl appeared by her side again in the darkness after a short conversation with Carol.

He nodded, he didn't really feel like explaining that he had agreed for Carol and Sophia to stop with him for a few nights. He hadn't really had a choice, he couldn't let them go back to Carol's abusive husband, and she didn't have anyone else she felt she could really open up too without judgement.

Beth didn't speak, instead she bravely took a step closer to him, she'd been a little unsure about his feelings towards her before this night, she had half wondered whether he viewed her as a silly girl that he took pity on, or someone he liked being around as a friend when the mood took him, but now she felt confident to get a little closer. They had kissed earlier in his car, and something told her that wasn't something he took lightly. It hadn't been just any kiss either, and it filled her with a rush of butterflies as she remembered how it had felt to have been that close to him. How his lips had felt on hers, she could still feel the scratch of his stubble on her cheek. She blinked as she wondered what he was thinking right now, whether he regretted it or whether like her, he wanted more. There was something about the present moment that was spurring her on, the horror and danger of the situation was making her crave his touch even more, in a weird way it felt almost exciting.

Daryl didn't say anything either as he slowly placed his hand on her waist, it was a bold move and one he certainly wouldn't have felt comfortable with before this evening, but right now it felt natural to him. He wanted her to know he didn't regret what had happened. He might be setting himself up for a fall, but from the way she she was looking at him right now, he knew he needed to give her something, a sign that he was there.

Beth felt lost for words still as she moved in closer to him from where they were partially hidden in the dark night, there wasn't anyone near to them and all she wanted at that moment was to feel him next to her. She pushed her body against his and lightly rested her head against his muscular shoulder. He smelled perfect, musky and manly, and she drank it in as she realised she wanted to get even closer to him.

Daryl moved his hand up to gently rub the small of her back. He'd wasn't ashamed to admit that he had many a dirty thought about the sweet blonde over the past couple of weeks, and he wondered what would have happened if they hadn't had been interrupted earlier in his car? He hadn't had sex for a while, and his body had been more than responsive to her touch. But he respected her too. She wasn't the kind of girl that you used for a quick screw in the backseat of a car.

"Guess I should make a move," he muttered into her soft blonde hair, it smelled of strawberries, flowers and sun, and it reminded him of summer evenings back when he'd been younger and he'd used to ride his bike out along the deserted country roads taking in all the fresh smells of summer, the only time he'd ever felt free and alive.

"Mmm.." she mumbled, not attempting to move away from him. She wished they were somewhere else, and she thought about what he would feel like underneath his shirt, what it would be like to lie with him naked, and a fluttering rushed through her as she wondered what might happen between them next now...

"Jeez…Beth, there you are," Beth suddenly heard Maggie say, and a flashlight shone in her face.

Daryl quickly sprung away from Beth as they both looked over to see Maggie and Glenn had appeared.

"We were so worried when you didn't come home and we heard there had been another incident, Daddy sent us out to look for you," Maggie exclaimed. Her relieved eyes moving from Beth to Daryl.

Daryl shot her a quick look through his hair and nodded in acknowledgement at Glenn.

"It's okay, Daryl was giving me a ride back from town when we heard the news," Beth explained hesitantly her big blue eyes sliding over to glance at Daryl.

"Right, well thanks deputy," Maggie said slightly suspiciously, but with a grateful undertone. She didn't really care who her sister was with as long as Beth was okay.

"I err.. gotta get back," Daryl mumbled in a low voice.

Beth shot him a disappointed look as he turned to move away from them, "Bye," she said quietly, her eyes expressing what she couldn't say, she didn't want him to go.

"Thanks again," Glenn said this time addressing Daryl with a genuine smile. Glenn was a good man and he was grateful to anyone that looked out for his family.

"Come on, Beth, we gotta get back,' Maggie said bossily to her younger sister.

"Stay safe," Daryl added in a gravely voice as he walked away from them into the distance.

"We will," Beth replied…..

A/N - Thanks for reading please review if you can :)